Let’s talk about Invisibility mechanics in Dota

There are many annoying mechanics that freeze our brains: ranked nerds, boosters, stream snipers, bugs, lags, meta builds, spammers, acc buyers, game ruiners, Pudge-pickers, the list is endless. Today Cyber-sport.io will talk about invisibility mechanics, which is long overdue for change. 

Invisibility is a status effect that allows your hero to be invisible to enemies even while within their line of sight, allowing the personage to scout, spy, and surprise enemies by slipping through their lines. However, enemies can counteract this by gaining Invisibility Reveal.

Why did the phrase "invisibility = invulnerability" appear at all?

Years earlier, supports had less money, and Observer Wards cost more. There were only two Dusts and Sentry Wards available. You had to pay 180-190 gold for the Dust of Appearance and 100 gold for each Sentry Ward. Simple arithmetic: to catch an invisible Weaver, you need to take Dust and Sentry and make an excellent combination. However, Weaver could remove Dust with Time Lapse, and run out of Sentry Ward's range too easily. You spent everything and got nothing. So, you go on a wild goose chase, spending 360 gold.

Six-stash-slot 

Previously, there were only six slots and no backpack. Even if you accumulated gold for Dust, you had to free up three slots simultaneously: one for the Observer Ward, one for the Sentry Ward, and the last one for the Dust of Appearance. Not to mention that earlier it was necessary to keep a teleport scroll in your inventory. Usually, supports don’t have enough gold to secure at least three slots. Present-day players consistently take Dusts against invisibility “rats”, but before, it was just impossible because your core couldn’t drop one “extra” slot for Dust instead of an important item.

Ranked matchmaking ladder

The ranked matchmaking system appeared in 2014. Until that moment, there was no role search. I can say for sure that the current Dota generation used to have supports, mid, offlane, and carry on their own lanes. Previously, situations like double-mid, double-carry and a jungler were commonplace, so there was simply no one to buy wards. Of course, the average player’s skill was lower too. I deliberately put this point last because this is the only real reason for it. In fact, it was not decisive - the conditions of the game were completely different.

Valve gets the second wind

Come rain or shine, in 2022, even in non-ranked matches, each team has a couple of Dusts and Sentry Wards in their inventory, and 10 slots allow even carry players to punish Bounty Hunters or any other invisible abusers. Additional gold resources (bounty runes) allow you to spend 140 gold to make even a single frag. 

Moreover, none of the new heroes added to the Dota universe have naked invisibility. There are practically no “pure invisibility” abilities left in the game. Among the heroes with unreworked invisibility, only two were meta in patch 7.31: Weaver and Bone Fletcher. For the sake of In fairness, it’s worth admitting that Shikuchi and Shadow Walk grant a massive movement speed boost. 

The same story applies to Invoker, whose Ghost Walk is hard to counter precisely because max Wex's aura guarantees him 500 movement speed, as well as Mirana's ultimate, which increases allies' movement speed. Additionally, at level 15, you can take a talent that grants a 20% bonus to evasion, which gives a global ultimate buff.

Do you guess that Valve has to rework invisibility for a couple of heroes? Share your minds with Cyber-sport.io. Subscribe and follow the latest eSports news!